LAST week, Kaieteur News carried an article where reportedly workers of the Bauxite Company of Guyana Incorporated (BCGI) sought out the newspaper to make known the conditions under which they are being forced to work . That those workers saw it fitting to leave their homes and visit the newspaper in Georgetown to tell their stories suggests to us that they are hurting and feel that their problems will not be addressed if they do not go public.

The problems with the workers and the company go back years and it is more than timely that they be resolved. Whereas Guyana faces threats to its territorial integrity with Venezuela coveting Essequibo and Suriname a part of Berbice, the sovereignty of Guyanese being threatened by a foreign force within our borders is equally serious and deserving of national response.

Those workers said Ministers Simona Broomes, Keith Scott and Volda Lawrence have visited their worksite and they had opportunities to air their concerns with them. These visits obviously would have gone a far way in showing that the workers were not alone and that their Government cares about the conditions under which they work and the treatment under which they labour.

At the same time, it cannot be ignored the workers’ view that the ministerial visits have not resulted in improvement in how they are being treated. There is an existing dispute between the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union (GB&GWU) who are the workers’ elected representative, and the management of the company.

The union has accused the company of not wanting to respect the laws as they relate to the workers’ rights to a union of choice and collective bargaining. Stories of workers who have dismissed for taking industrial action against unsafe practices, denial of collective bargaining, and protesting their meals being prepared under unhygienic conditions have attracted media coverage.

Allegations of being threatened by an aggressive ‘spade-wielding’ manager, and the industrial accidents and deaths occurring within this mining community were also covered.

The company, which is owned by the Government of Guyana and RUSAL Aluminium and managed by the latter, for its part has accused the union of violating the collective labour agreement. It has taken a decision since December 2009 to de-recognise the union, which the union claims constitutes a violation of Section 23 (1) of the Trade Union Recognition Act (1997).

Outside of Minister of Labour Dr. Nanda Gopaul in 2012 — having inherited the matter from predecessor Manzoor Nadir — who sought to resolve the matter by invoking compulsory arbitration, which the company challenged, nothing significant thereafter has been done to achieve resolution.

These reports are enough to cause concern about what is happening to Guyanese workers. The back and forth between the union and company have been on-going for far too long, when evidently the workers have concerns that they need address. Irrespective of which side of the issue people may be inclined to agree with, there must be no disagreement that Guyanese deserve to be treated with respect and dignity in their homeland.

The presence of this eight-year dispute is indicative that something is amiss and this must be looked into as a matter of utmost urgency. The Ministry of Social Protection is being urged to recognise the protection these workers are clamouring for.

As Guyanese, there is no place we can truly call home other than here. It is in our home where our protection and safety can and must be assured, in spite of the challenges going on around us. As a peaceful people just as we don’t seek trouble with our neighbours and other countries, the standard we set ourselves must be equally reflected in how we allow others to treat us, our sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Where these are circumscribed in our constitution and laws at all times these must be defended and protected with all our might. It can never be over-emphasised the dual and intertwined importance of sovereignty and integrity to the nation’s survival, respect and development of its people.

The last place Guyanese should feel alien is here. Those workers have said they want their union to represent them, advisedly a recognition certificate exists and the GB&GWU is the recognised union. Where the workers have once again used the newspaper to implore that this be made possible their pleas must no longer be ignored.